Google Trends lets you see search trends for any keyword or topic, in any location and date range that you want.

This can be really powerful when you're planning a product or marketing launch. There are three main things it can help you with:

Thing #1: Find the most popular keywords so that when you name or describe your product, you can use the same terms your customers are using. As we've found time and time again, people are much more likely to respond and buy when you use the same terminology they do, whether in ads, blog posts, or in the name of what you're selling. That makes sense, right? Because they're faster to recognize that you have exactly what they need if you're using the same words they are.

Or when you put out new content, you can use your knowledge of relative keyword popularity to do it with an eye toward SEO. Or use it to get a better idea of what keywords to bid on in AdWords.

Scroll down and you'll also see related queries: a list of other phrases people search for, ranked by popularity. These are additional keywords you should consider, and which you can then plug back in at the top to compare against your original terms to compare over time.

Thing #2: See which locations have the most interest. You can break out the above info by countries, states, cities or metro areas. So sticking with the same example, you can see interest by state just under the chart at the top.

This not only shows how interest varies based on location; it also shows which keywords are more popular where. (Hover over the individual states for details.)

Scroll down from there and you'll see separate breakouts for each of the three sales keywords we're comparing, and from there you can zero-in on cities or metro areas.

Thing #3: Understand when people are looking for what you offer and plan accordingly. Which hours of the day, days of the week, months of the year are people most interested? Expanding our date range out a bit, we can see that if you have a sales software product, you should plan your marketing to hit harder in Jan/Feb, when interest increases as businesses get new budgets for the year.

Fun fact: did you know that nail salons get a lot busier around Christmas, springtime and July 4th, while hair salons have much more even interest year-round? For new brick-and-mortar businesses, that info is priceless -- it can enable them to staff accordingly or run promotions outside of those peak times to even out their cash flow.

Those are just a few ways you can quickly pull useful data from Google Trends, and there are many more if you think creatively. Give it a shot!

Google Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools) is one of the best SEO tools out there, and it's 100% free.

If you haven't already, go sign up for it here. (Tip: the "Google Analytics" ownership verification method is usually easiest.)

Search Console lets you see a whole lot about your site's health and performance from an SEO standpoint, but one of my favorite things to do with it is find opportunities for more traffic from long-tail keywords.

It's easy to do. Once you're signed up for Search Console, it only takes five minutes.

Then check the boxes for Clicks and Impressions, and select "Queries".

Scroll down to see a list of actual keyword phrases people are typing into Google to find your site.

The most popular query or two will usually be your brand, no surprise.

But look further down and you'll start to see phrases you'll be surprised by. These "Oh, I'm getting traffic from that?" keywords are easy opportunities to score more traffic from Google. Especially the ones with a lot of impressions.

When you see a keyword like that, just click the link icon next to it to see which page on your site is ranking for it, and then check whether that page actually has that exact phrase anywhere in the copy.

If it doesn't, write the phrase into the page copy somewhere. Now you're almost guaranteed to get more traffic from it going forward.

With new features being added all the time, Google AdWords is becoming more and more powerful and complex. But luckily, the tools for managing AdWords more efficiently are multiplying too.

Here’s our breakdown of the top 10 Google AdWords management tricks to save you time, and improve your advertising in the process.

1. Adwords Editor

The grandfather of all AdWords management tricks. Unless your account is small, you can benefit from using AdWords Editor for any wide-scale changes.

Google's free desktop application might be ugly, but it's a much smarter way to get things done than the regular web interface. Between quick find/replace functionality, backup exports, automatic error checking and the ability to copy campaigns between accounts, AdWords Editor makes it easy to make sweeping changes at scale, and it'll also keep you out of trouble if you try to make conflicting changes.

It can also be great for air travel, as it allows you to download your account, work on it offline, and upload the changes the next time you have an internet connection.

2. COPY/PASTE AND MULTIPLE-ROW EDITS IN THE WEB INTERFACE.

With the addition of just these two features, Google vastly improved its AdWords web interface a while back. So much so that you can actually get away with using AdWords Editor a lot less often than you used to have to (though it's still the better tool for bigger changes).

Now you can copy and paste campaigns, ad groups, keywords and ads, as well as make changes in bulk to ad text, bids, display URLs and final URLs.

One great way to use this feature is if you have an ad group with only one keyword match type. You can duplicate all the keywords by copy and pasting them, then change the match type on the new copies.

Surely it's only a matter of time until the Bing Ads team follows suit with their web interface… right, Bing? Buddy?

3. AUTOMATED BIDDING OPTIONS.

While hands-on managers usually favor manual bidding, Google’s automated bidding options have gotten much better over the past couple of years -- particularly the Conversion Optimizer option's CPA bids.

Under Campaign Settings -> Bid strategy, you can set a campaign-level bidding strategy that goes from completely manual to completely automated, and several options in between, including Enhanced CPC (which can double your bids when Google calculates your chances of converting are higher) and flexible bid strategies.

A word of caution: don’t use these settings as a "set it and forget it" way to put your account on full auto-pilot. Instead, think of them as ways to algorithmicallyenhance your manual efforts, and continue to be vigilant about monitoring your account’s performance.

4. Automated Rules.

Different from automated bidding (where you give Google partial or full control over your bids), you can set up automated rules to take specific actions when you want based on triggers of your choice.

You can set up rules to trigger once at a specific day and time (e.g. to pause some ads and enable others if a promotion is ending over the weekend), or once each week, or every day (for more routine adjustments). Here are some other ideas from Google's support page on how to use automated rules:

Schedule ads for special promotions or events

Pause low-performing ads or keywords

Change keyword bids to control your average position

Raise keyword bids to ensure your ads show on first page

Send yourself an email if a campaign’s budget is nearly exhausted early in the day

Tip: always use the "preview" function before saving a new rule.

5. Scripts.

A more advanced way of automating your management is to use AdWords scripts, which are pieces of JavaScript that can do all sorts of things to minimize the time you spend tweaking things manually.

Tip: always execute a new script in preview mode first.

Image source: Search Engine Land

6. Focus on the Metrics That Matter.

A much more basic tactic than using scripts: simply remember that at the end of the day, AdWords-specific metrics like CTR, CPC, clicks, impressions and quality score are all secondary to the key performance indicators that directly affect your bottom line.

So above all else, focus on conversions (or revenue) and average cost per conversion (or ROAS: Return On Ad Spend) to save time and make your advertising more effective.

7. Draft New Ads and Make Bulk Edits in Excel.

When you're breaking out new ad groups, building out an account, or trying to test a large number of new ads, writing ads in the web interface is pretty inefficient. Of course, there's a better way.

To make edits (to ad copy, bids or otherwise), first download the spreadsheet, then edit it, then re-upload it (be sure to save the original as a backup). To add new text ads or keywords, add a new row with the pertinent info.

8. Shared Negative Keywords and Budgets.

Did you know that you can set negative keyword lists and budgets to be shared across multiple campaigns, rather than setting them individually for each campaign?

While it's not the right move for every account, for small accounts this simplified structure can save you a significant amount of time.

9. See Google Analytics Data Within AdWords.

Especially if you have conversion tracking (or ecommerce conversion tracking) set up in Google Analytics, you should be importing the data into AdWords so that you can see conversion figures or revenue, and engagement metrics like bounce rate, directly in the AdWords web interface. This will save you time because you won't have to look at Analytics itself nearly as often.

To make that happen, you just need to have at least "Edit" level permissions to the Analytics profile and "Administrative" (or MCC) access to the AdWords account. Assuming you have those, follow these three steps:

A) Follow the instructions here to link your Analytics and AdWords accounts together. This will allow you to see AdWords data such as cost, CPC and CTR in your Analytics account.

B) Then follow these instructions to begin importing in the other direction as well: bringing your Analytics data into AdWords.

Voila! You can now see Analytics data in AdWords -- and AdWords data in Analytics.

10. Automate Your Experiments.

You can think of the AdWords Campaign Experiments (ACE) function as a way to automate and help you keep track of the tests you should be running, without resorting to the very advanced method of using scripts. Using AdWords Campaign Experiments, you can test different bids, different ad copy, and even different structures within your campaigns -- and you can have Google automatically select the winning variant at the end of the test period to become the new default.

This means less time managing your tests, and less chance of forgetting to resolve tests you're running: both saving time and helping you avoid mistakes.

To set up a Campaign Experiment, go to the Settings tab of whatever campaign you'd like to test, scroll down to the "Advanced settings" section and hit "Experiment."

Next, click "Experiment settings" and follow the steps.

What are you waiting for?

Go implement some of these tricks, and start basking in the glory of a lower-maintenance AdWords account. Time's a-wasting!

Years and years ago, when I was first learning about direct-response marketing, I didn't understand why anyone ever did anything else. I remember thinking, "marketing that doesn't sell is just a waste of money."

That's a pretty popular philosophy among digital marketers today. But it's not the truth. Not by a long shot.

Don't get me wrong, I still love marketing that sells on the first try -- that's why we focus so much on PPC and conversion-rate-optimization. When your marketing leads directly to sales, it makes it that much easier to measure its ROI and see exactly where your profits are coming from.

The thing is, most marketing doesn't lead directly to sales, but it's often still super valuable in ways that are harder to measure.

We've seen firsthand how adding a Display or Video component to a client's AdWords account can boost the ROI of their Search ads by 20% or more, through brand lift.

Would anyone read our blog if it was just a continuous sales pitch? Of course not. Blogs are a top-of-the-funnel strategy to spread brand awareness, attract visitors and build relationships. And they're great at it. As you build relationships with your audience through softer methods like blogging, you can gently nudge the people who are the best fit for the "not-free" part of your business in the right direction: from the top of your funnel toward the bottom.

Likewise, social media (and social media advertising) are good tools to "get your foot in the door" with your brand or to continue the conversation with someone who already knows you, but they're notoriously difficult to close sales with directly.

That doesn't make them any less valuable as long as you know how to use them the right way.

Once you have enough of a relationship with those people, or as you approach the effective frequency for your business, that's the time you should be looking to make the sale. Not before, and not after.

It's designed to help you build and execute a cohesive marketing strategy based on the science of marketing funnels and effective frequency. The course is specifically aimed at startups and entrepreneurs, to put founders (who may not have much real-world marketing experience) ahead of the game. It's designed to help you acquire more customers and close more sales with less cost.

We're already getting some great feedback from our earliest students. I'd love to hear what you think, too.

Everyone knows that SEO can be a great way to get traffic. But when you're just starting out, there are so many things to focus on that it can be completely overwhelming.

What if you're too busy to study detailed articles without knowing whether it will pay off, and you don't have the budget to hire a skilled pro?

That's where this short guide comes in. Read on to learn how to quickly improve your site's SEO and greatly increase your odds of attracting search traffic in your market.

Conclusion

Obviously, there's a lot more to SEO than what I've gone over above. But when your time and resources are limited, sometimes you have to focus on the smallest changes that can lead to solid outcomes - and build from there.

What small changes have you made to your site lately that are helping drive traffic or sales?

As Google works to make AdWords easier to use, more and more business owners are starting off managing their own accounts. But most entrepreneurs still don't have a lot of time to spend on all the nitty-gritty details.

The good news is, you don't need a ton of time: you just need to focus on the right things. There’s a large range of items that should be on any dedicated PPC manager’s regular checklist, but for those of you with less time to spare, here are 3 key ways to work on improving your AdWords account's performance and profitability:

Way #1: Focus solely on conversions and cost per conversion.

If you’re pressed for time, mostly ignore all the secondary metrics like cost per click, click-through rate, average position, impression share, quality score, and even clicks and impressions.

I’m sure I’ll catch some flak for saying that, because ignoring these things in the long run can really hurt you. In the long run.

But in the short-to-medium term, focusing on those things is more likely to distract you than it is to help you. Instead, focus solely on your number of conversions and your cost per conversion. The best use of the other metrics is really to optimize those two anyway, so that’s the only reason you should look at them for now.

Way #2: Only pay for the visitors who are doing what you want.

Compare the behavior of visitors from different campaigns, ad groups, keywords, ads, landing pages, geographic locations and device types to see where your ad spend is working well and where it isn’t.

Desired outcomes will vary based on the business, but some of the most common are sales, ecommerce revenue, contact form submissions and quote requests. Secondary metrics like bounce rate and average time on site can be useful too, especially if you don’t have conversion tracking set up yet.

Whichever key metrics you choose, compare them across different groups of visitors to see which parts of your AdWords account are driving value and which aren’t. Then reduce bids or pause underperformers, and move your budget from areas of low yield to areas of higher yield and watch your business improve.

Way #3: Always be testing.

If you’ve spent any time reading about online marketing, you’ve surely heard about the importance of split-testing on your website. Unfortunately, a lot of sites just don’t have enough traffic to split-test their landing pages to a degree of statistical significance – so any results they may get are simply not reliable. With AdWords, though, you’re likely to have 100 times more impressions on your ads than the amount of traffic they actually send to your site, which makes hitting statistical significance on your ad copy much easier.

It’s both free and fast to add new text ads, unlike redesigning a landing page. And with 53% of small businesses optimizing their ads only once per quarter, testing more frequently can immediately put you ahead of your competition.

When you do test, try to isolate the specific pieces you’re testing. If you change both the headline and the first description line of an ad, and that ad performs better, you won’t know which part made the difference. It can work to test an entirely different ad approach against another, but once you find an approach that works well, it’s a good idea to swap out one at a time to see which specific phrasing performs the best. And be sure to run the two different ads at the same time, in parallel, using the AdWords setting to rotate evenly. You should never have just one active ad in an ad group.

To ensure statistical significance, use a free calculator like this one. Because it’s set up for testing landing pages, the calculator’s column headers say visits and conversions, but you can use your ads’ impressions and clicks (or impressions and conversions) numbers to see whether your test was significant.

Out of ideas for ad copy to test? Try these methods:

a) Think like your ideal customer. If you needed the service or product you’re offering, but weren’t familiar with your company, how would you search for it? What are the benefits and features that would be most important to you? This perspective should inform the keywords you bid on, the ad copy you run, and the landing pages you use—all of which should work together as individual parts of your whole marketing funnel.

You can also look at what your customers are saying when they talk to your team or when they leave reviews online, and use their major points in your ad copy.

b) Use your competition. Search Google for your top keywords and look at how your competitors advertise on them. Try variations of their copy or position yourself in the opposite corner to differentiate your company from the others.

c) Use your own landing page copy. Take advantage of all the time you’ve already spent on your on-site messaging by using it in your ad copy. Matching your ad copy promise to your landing page delivery is a good way to build trust and prevent people from bouncing right off the page, too.

Conclusion

While there are many more techniques that can give your AdWords advertising an edge, using the three basic tips above can help any time-crunched manager keep improving their account over time until it’s large enough to hire a more dedicated pro to tackle the advanced issues.

What are some tips you’ve used to optimize your or your clients’ AdWords campaigns? Post your thoughts and any questions you have in the comments below!

Learn the 6 ways Google AdWords remarketing can boost your ROI and reduce your cost per acquisition, by targeting the people who are most likely to convert.

If you’re a business owner and want to know how to make your marketing perform as well as possible, putting together the proper marketing mix is the only way to do that – and the best way to organize and plan your marketing mix is through using a marketing funnel.

A marketing funnel is a way to arrange and visualize different marketing techniques and the effects you can expect from them, as you take a group of prospects through a journey that ultimately convinces some of them to buy your product or service.

So, how do you use a marketing funnel to make sure you're not wasting your time and money... [continue reading]